Lockdown Thanksgiving

LOCKDOWN THANKSGIVING

I rejoice for the oil that didn’t get burned and the plastic that never got sold

I’m glad for the ones who had time with their kids

For the games that they played and the stories they told

My heart skips a beat when I think what a treat

It must be for many I know

To shun the alarm and lay arm in arm

With their lover because they have nowhere to go

I’m happy to hear that the skies became clear where they used to be smoggy and brown

Of streams running clean where pollution had been

Wild animals strolling through town

How good it must be for the fish in the sea

For the dolphins and walrus and seals

To have less of our muck in their gills getting stuck

And no plastic straws in their meals

My friends are all baking and cooking a storm, they’re getting their hands in the dough

They’re treating their bunch to a long, loving lunch

They’re changing from fast food to slow

They’re getting all mellow and playing the cello

Or starting a new renovation

Or making a bench while practicing French

Or entering deep hibernation

I think what a fool I was back at school, and how much I hated to go

I’m sure there are some who are glad to be home

It wasn’t at school where I learned what I know

Perhaps it’s a chance for them just to dance

They might even learn to be kind

Or how to take care of the little ones there

I don’t call that falling behind.

And then there are folk who are actually stoked to be finally left all alone

To sit with themselves, with their mind and their heart

And literally chill to the bone

For them it’s not scary being lonesome and hairy

In fact, they’re enjoying the peace

I know that for some, their time has now come

And this lock-up is more like release

I wonder sometimes what we’re all gonna feel when this virus has loosened its grip

Will we see that this part of our lives was quite real

Or think it was some kind of trip

I hope we might cherish all things that will perish

The fleeting, the fragile, the frail

I hope we will be a new kind of free

When we flee from our self-imposed jail